Expert: "Sustainable nutrition will gain in importance"

Thoughts on Healthy Eating Day on March 7

07-Mar-2024

Vegetarian or meat-based? Sustainable or not? Diet is playing an increasingly important role in our society. For young people in particular, a healthy lifestyle - usually inspired by social media - is more important than ever. To mark Healthy Eating Day on 7 March, Dr. Juliane Heydenreich, Professor of Experimental Sports nutrition at Leipzig University, talks about nutrition trends, the dangers of dietary supplements and her goal of establishing sports nutrition as an independent scientific discipline in Germany.

Ms Heydenreich, you are Germany's first female professor of experimental sports nutrition. What goals have you set yourself for your young field of research?

Sports nutrition is very well established internationally in sports science, but has unfortunately been underrepresented in German-speaking countries up to now. I want to change that. Among other things, I'm researching healthy nutrition in competitive sport and how athletes can be supported so that they stay healthy and perform well. Another area of research is public health. I am researching how exercise and nutrition are linked to certain health parameters.

March 7 is Healthy Eating Day. What role does it play in our society?

The first alarm signal came about 20 to 30 years ago. At that time, it was discovered that more and more children and young people were obese, with all the known consequences. This was recognized as a social problem at the time. There were initial interventions, but little was initially achieved with the countermeasures. The figures have not risen any further. However, they were at a high level. Only in the last five years have there been parliamentary signals to counter this trend. Today, fitness and nutrition play a major role on social media in particular. This has an extreme influence on children and young people in particular. However, it is unclear whether these nutrition tips are always healthy. My personal impression is that children, teenagers and young adults in particular are more interested in healthy eating today than they were a few years ago. They are more open to changing their behavior than older people. Social status, the rich-poor divide, the level of education and whether someone lives in the city or in the country also influence the way they eat. The German Nutrition Society (DGE) has published ten evidence-based rules for wholesome eating and drinking, which I highly recommend. This is all the more important because our society is becoming less and less skilled at preparing food and more and more people are eating ready meals instead.

Is a meat-free diet really healthy or does it deprive the body of important substances?

The DGE also recommends that everyone should avoid meat and fish, i.e. a vegetarian diet. However, it is always important to eat a balanced diet. However, the DGE advises children, adolescents, pregnant women and sick people against a purely vegan diet, i.e. abstaining from animal products of any kind. It is only recommended for healthy adults. Whether vegan or vegetarian - everyone should always eat a balanced diet and think more about what they eat. It should be clear that there is also a lot of vegan junk food. And every time I do without individual foods (groups of foods), I increase the risk of getting into a deficit.

How have Germans' attitudes towards nutrition changed in general?

Sustainability plays an extremely important role for younger people. This also includes a sustainable diet. This is another reason why they often avoid animal products. According to the Planetary Health Diet, the diet should consist of a high proportion of plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains and pulses as well as vegetable oils. The intake of animal products such as dairy products, eggs, meat and fish should be restricted just as much as the intake of sugar. Care should be taken to use regional, seasonal and organic foods. In addition, food waste should be halved.
The topic of vegetarian and vegan diets is definitely on the rise among younger people. According to a survey, 10.4 percent of teenagers and young adults are vegetarian and 2.3 percent are vegan. There are many more vegetarian and vegan foods in supermarkets than there used to be. These products are not always healthier, but the industry makes huge profits from them. It is often more difficult for older people to change their diet. This usually only happens after drastic events such as an illness.

Keyword dietary supplements - how useful are they really?

There are some scenarios in which it is definitely appropriate to take dietary supplements. People who follow a vegan diet should also take vitamin B12. Even if a deficiency has been detected in the blood count, this should be remedied by taking a supplement. The DGE also recommends vitamin D supplementation in the winter months. I am skeptical about the blanket intake of all other dietary supplements. The body is often overwhelmed by the absorption of highly concentrated nutrients and excretes them immediately. There is also a risk that certain food supplements can change the composition of the intestinal microbes. There is also an increased risk of overdosing on micronutrients. Many people are not even aware that certain vitamins in too high a concentration can lead to long-term liver poisoning, for example. Food supplements do not count as medicines, but as foodstuffs. The hurdles for their approval are very low. Sometimes they contain substances that are on the doping list. My tip: only buy from trustworthy manufacturers and only take the food supplements that you really need. You can also find the so-called Cologne list of products that have been tested for purity by a doping laboratory on the internet.

Where do you think the nutrition trend of the future is heading?

A sustainable diet will become increasingly important. In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission published the report Planetary Health Diet. In it, researchers describe a theoretical model of how a sustainable and healthy diet could be possible for all people worldwide. It is plant-based, but also allows small amounts of animal products. However, people in Western countries would have to make extreme changes to their diets, for example consuming only a seventh of the amount of red meat. I think that people are becoming more and more aware of this trend.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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